Improved commercial steering between VodafoneZiggo and Business Partners

Due to several mergers and harmonizations, the provision of information also had to be adapted to optimally match the commercial agreements with the Business Partners. Lennart A Campo, Program Manager at VodafoneZiggo: "We want to deliver what we promise. That means being more transparent, reporting more accurately on the commercial agreements and paying out correctly on the basis of performance. We also wanted to be more in control of the entire end-to-end chain."

"One of our goals was to become much more part of the internal chain, rather than a stand-alone department."

Reason enough to set up a program to tackle the complete chain, from commercial agreements to reporting and disbursements. Micha Ris, Director of Finance Operations at VodafoneZiggo: "This chain starts with Sales and ends with Finance; we are the final piece. So one of our goals was to become much more part of the internal chain, rather than a separate department."‍

Combining three projects into one holistic program

Besides optimizing the chain, there are two other developments at play. The commercial model is changing significantly, a drastic change for all facets of the chain. In addition, a new basic administration is being built. Soon after the start of the program, therefore, it was decided to merge the three developments into one overarching approach. A tricky exercise, because such a broad program is more complex to manage, but gives great opportunities for integration. "In the new commercial model, we want to steer primarily on revenue. You do need the information for that. If we had done the three projects separately, we would never have landed on the same end point," says Roel Polmans, Director Business Partner Sales at VodafoneZiggo.

Leveraging digital transformation to improve supply chain

The program fits seamlessly with VodafoneZiggo's strategy. One of the important pillars in this strategy is "Go Digital. Micha: "This program fits in perfectly with that. We are deploying all digital possibilities to pull both processes and systems throughout the end-to-end chain to a higher level, making them operationally excellent. The focus on data-driven also plays a major role in this. Data quality is not only important for high-quality payments, but also for providing better insights."

This focus on data-driven was supported in the program by improving data quality and guaranteeing the use of the correct master data throughout the chain. No new systems were purchased during the program, but the current systems were modified and improved. For example, QlikSense and SAP Commissions were redesigned and integrations were built between various systems. "In such a long chain, there are many different interfaces to the outside world. Digital transformation makes it possible to smoothly integrate those nodes with each other, so that you can connect the inside world with the outside world," says Maarten Bronda, closely involved in the program as lead consultant from Finext.

More effective sales time

The results of the program are already tangible. Lennart: "Over 50 B2B specialists have worked very hard for a year to come up with the great result that we have a new commercial model in the market, with new, reliable reporting and a new basic administration. We are now transparent and predictable. For our Business Partners it means that they have their own insights, can consult real-time performance agreements and relate performance to commission payouts."

"Effective sales time goes up because there is less discussion about commission payments and reporting. In addition, there is renewed confidence in the innovative power of VodafoneZiggo. We promise something and do it. That is important for our relationship with partners. If you work together, you want to move forward together," says Roel.

Sum of hard and soft factors

During the program, all facets of the chain were addressed. "It's not just about the familiar triangle of processes, people and systems, but also governance and culture. The essence is that Finance can also indicate what is needed or possible. Compare it to a skipping rope: if you move the beginning of the rope, you get big strokes at the end. Now Finance also has the rope at the end. This gives you a more stable chain," Maarten says.

This approach is proving to be a key success factor. Micha: "Job satisfaction has increased. There is more recognition for each other. It has given the Finance team an equal voice in the chain. Previously, agreements were sometimes made at the front end that had negative effects at the back end in the financial operation. The team has become more knowledgeable, having to look much further than just their own area of work. As a result, we are better able to deliver qualitatively."

Agreeing on definitions and roles also pays off, as does setting up new processes. These optimization steps provide a shared unified direction, which leads to more (internal) customer satisfaction and greater efficiency.

"If you want this to land well, you have to bring people along with the change."

Chain-wide engagement of all stakeholders

Another success factor is involving all stakeholders, including Business Partners. Remko van Ommeren, Streamlead Business Readiness at VodafoneZiggo: "If you want to make this work, you have to involve people in the change. That applies to Sales, for example with training, videos and an email address for questions, but certainly also externally. From the beginning of the program we have asked a number of Business Partners for their experiences and feedback. They see substantial improvements; they now have confidence in the data and can really steer on the insights. "Other success factors are the stated urgency from senior management on the program and staffing. Lennart: "We had a high level of quality people within the program team who knew how to get the program over the line."

In doing so, the cooperation with Finext has been good. "The people at Finext understand the issues and the situation. They have a vision on the matter and know from knowledge and experience how to structure and arrive at solutions," Lennart continues.

"Continue to include the customer's perspective in all decisions throughout the program. Otherwise, with such a complex and large program, chances are you'll get a yellow car when you expected a red car."

Continuing to challenge critically

Asked about lessons learned, the answer is clear: communicate and challenge even more. "Keep including the perspective of the customer (our Business Partners) in all decisions throughout the program. Otherwise, with such a complex and large program, the chances are high that you will get a yellow car when you had expected a red car," says Roel. Data quality is also an ongoing concern, as it is in many other organizations. Arend den Hartog, Finext consultant: "Under the hood, you have to keep securing the reliability of the data at all times, so that the car actually runs."

Better commercial decisions

VodafoneZiggo and the Business Partners can now make better commercial decisions. Roel: "We can focus more on the outside from Sales. The Business Partners can start cross- and up-selling with the intelligence from the insights. Our people can also actively use these insights to make our partners more successful. We have good relationships with our Business Partners, but you can't make it on the relationship alone. The products and capabilities are also important. If you improve that whole together, then you can only win."